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As floodwater recedes from the American River Parkway, plastic bags, bottles, bike parts and shopping carts remain on banks and tree branches, sparking a new partnership between county departments to hasten the clean up.

Director of Regional Parks Jeff Leatherman said this week that his department is coordinating with waste management and recycling staff to cart garbage and plant remains out of the parkway, which stretches 23 miles from Discovery Park to Lake Natoma.

The popular greenbelt was closed due to heavy flooding last month as the American River reached its highest level since 1997. Discovery Park remains underwater and is not expected to open until May, but other sections have slowly dried out under clear skies. The county announced Thursday that the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail is open from miles 6 to 23 with one detour.

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There was a little more action on Folsom Lake on Wednesday as motorboats were allowed to pick up speed once again on the water.

It’s been almost three months since the California Department of Parks and Recreation imposed a 5-mile-per-hour speed restriction for boaters on Folsom Lake. The lake level was too low to safely boat at higher speeds.

Alex Vitner frequents the lake and said, “I come frequently and it used to be a wide river, now it’s slowly filling the beaches and the sand is becoming beach again.”

This is definitely a welcome sight for drought stricken California. The National Weather Service recorded over a foot and a half of rainfall across northern California in the month of October. This helped to bring the Folsom Lake level up to 400 feet. That’s the magic number to bring down the speed restrictions on the lake, Higher water levels cover the hazards that pop up when the low water level falls below 400 feet.

The lake didn’t reach this level in the last rain season until late January.

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A grass fire that burned an estimated 173 acres along the American River Parkway and prompted the evacuation of Cal Expo on Thursday was caused by “human activity,” according to fire investigators.

A statement released Friday by the Sacramento Fire Department said investigators “cannot state whether the blaze was accidentally or intentionally set.”

Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey said in an interview that there are “homeless camps up and down the American River Parkway,” but the exact cause of the fire has not been pinpointed.

“They’re still interviewing witnesses. It’s very difficult right now to tell how it started,” Harvey said.

Harvey said fire units were dispatched at 1:13 p.m. Thursday, with a second alarm sounded shortly thereafter as the blaze spread quickly amid dry grass and breezy conditions.

At the height of the fire, officials said more than 30 engines and 130 firefighters were involved. Equipment on the scene included bulldozers and helicopters.

An unidentified Sacramento firefighter from Engine 19 showed symptoms of excessive smoke inhalation while battling the flames. He was taken to an area hospital, where he was treated Thursday night and released.

Cal Expo spokeswoman Sabrina Rodriguez said two events – an RV show and rental housing association conference – were being held on the venue grounds and had to shut down about 2 p.m. Thursday due to the fire. Rodriguez said event participants and staff members left the property. Cal Expo also moved its monorail trains as the fire was burning near the monorail barn.

Jim Lofgren, executive director of the Rental Housing Association of the Sacramento Valley, said about 1,000 people attending the association’s annual one-day conference were directed to leave Cal Expo.

The American River Parkway was closed Thursday afternoon as firefighters, trucks and heavy equipment moved into the area. Park rangers used loudspeakers to announce that the parkway was now off limits. The bike trail was reopened Friday morning.

Harvey said that as the fire spread eastward, “there was a possibility of neighborhood evacuations” along the west side of the Howe Avenue corridor south of Arden Way. However, evacuations were called off when the eastward spread of the fire was stopped near Ethan Way.

Harvey said overhead power lines in the area began arcing due to high flames and heat, and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District turned off the lines. Nearby residents as well as some homes in Davis and West Sacramento reported power surges and some power loss during the fire, Harvey said.

Firefighters also had to deal with spot fires as winds blew embers into dry grass bordering the path of the main fire.

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Firefighters are battling a large blaze burning south of Cal Expo near Business Interstate 80 along the American River Parkway in Sacramento.

The blaze broke out sometime before 1:15 p.m. near mile marker 5 along the American River.

Crews were getting a handle on the fire when flames jumped a fire road and burned toward Cal Expo. LiveCopter 3 spotted sparks coming from transformers and power lines in the area where the blaze was burning.

People at Cal Expo have been evacuated because of the fire as much of the smoke moves that direction. The blaze is moving to the northeast, away from Business 80.

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A alcohol restriction has been issued for the American River on Saturday from Hazel to Watt avenues in preparation for the non-permitted “Raftopia” event taking place that day.

Michael Doane, chief ranger for Sacramento County Regional Parks, said the main concern is public safety.

“(Raftopia) is formerly known as Rafting Gone Wild,” Doane said.

Six arrests were made at the July Rafting Gone Wild event, during which Sammy Diaz, the event organizer, escaped law enforcement officials by jumping off of a bridge and swimming away. Later that month, Diaz was arrested on two outstanding warrants: a misdemeanor charge of resisting or obstructing a peace officer and a misdemeanor charge of illegally jumping from a bridge at another unpermitted rafting event on the American River.

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A GoPro camera lost a month ago has been recovered from the receding waters of Folsom Lake and reunited with its Concord owner.

Jeff Dumm of Rocklin found the camera Saturday while on a morning hike with co-workers at Folsom Lake near Granite Bay. Once he got it home, he found out why it was at the shoreline mostly covered by sand.

Video on the camera shows two people on a jet ski beginning to tow a friend on a wakeboard, only the wakeboarder falls off. When the jet ski goes forward, the camera and cameraman go sailing into the water.

The video shows the waterproof GoPro Hero3 sinking with its lens facing down before hitting the bottom of the lake with a thud.

“It’s a really cool shot,” said Dumm.

Dumm posted some of the video on his Facebook page and social media took over from there. As of Monday, the video had 115,000 views and 600 shares.